Page 24

Chapter

Twenty-Four

PIPER

My arms and legs hurt from how tight my binds are, but terror surges through my body so viciously I can barely feel the tug. The blade of the knife presses to my throat. If I take too deep of a breath, it will cut me.

“Keep your eyes on me, Rosy. Don’t look away,” Adon says. When I glance over, his serious brown eyes narrow, and I latch onto them like an anchor in a violent storm.

In his hurry, Dennis didn’t attach my gag as well as he should have, and I manage to slip my jaw beneath it, responding, “Okay, boss.”

The professor’s alarmed expression takes me in, but he just grips my hair and holds the sharpened edge more firmly against my skin.

Rhodes clears his throat. “Maybe if you could just put the knife down, then we’ll all wait for the police in peace. Doesn’t have to be like this.”

“Sure, it does,” Mr. Harrison says, and I yelp as the cold steel digs in until it burns. “You barged in on my fun time.”

“I’m not having a good time,” I say through clenched teeth, hoping he doesn’t cut my throat.

My boyfriend’s gaze doesn’t falter from my face. As soon as Dennis’s muscles twitch, however, Adon makes his move. With speed like I’ve only seen the night we were shot at, he shoves Sean at Rhodes, then makes a leap onto the bed, covering my body while knocking Dennis to the floor, the blade clattering on the wood floor behind him.

Adon kneels over my waist while Rhodes moves his aim, pointing the gun at Dennis’s head. “Don’t even think of reaching for that knife,” he says.

Adon’s fingers work frantically to untie my arms and legs. Dennis rests against the wall, huffing a few breaths while glaring at my boyfriend and his brother.

“She was a whore. Just like yours. Not worth it, Mr. Griffin. Women aren’t worth it.”

I rub where the bindings made my skin raw and irritated, then squat behind Adon as he sits on the edge of the bed. “So you killed her,” I say.

The professor’s face lights up with a laugh. “No. I just served her coffee, like usual.”

My eyes squeeze closed as I recall the details in the photograph he thought he had me delete. He was pouring almond milk into her cup…

“She was allergic to almonds,” I whisper, and the man twitches with a startle.

“What?” he asks, like he knows very well what I just said.

“What was that, Rosy?”

“He poured almond milk into her coffee and served it to her, knowing she was allergic to almonds… That’s how he did it.”

Both of us look at the man who scrambles back against the wall as if he can escape. His complexion grows wan as sweat pours from his forehead.

“Hands up! Police!” A group of officers rushes in with weapons drawn and immediately leaps onto Adon, despite his arms behind held high in the air. One throws me to the ground and all of us get handcuffed.

When they stand us up, Adon starts yelling at a few milling around. “Cover her up, for fuck’s sake!”

A sob cuts through my chest. Adon’s fierce eyes won’t leave my face, even as they wrestle him away. He calls to me, “Don’t worry, baby. It’ll be okay.”

One of the men obliges and uncuffs me for long enough for me to dress. After reading my rights, the officer in front of me asks what happened, and I relay everything from arriving to getting assaulted with the knife.

He releases my hands, and I stretch through the pain, then shiver with a chill and from residual nerves.

“I have proof of what Mr. Harrison did to his wife. It’s on my social media. He got my phone, but he never checked online where I posted the picture on Pixtagram.”

The officer looks at his screen and has me point to the one I’d posted with Maggie and me. “There he is! In the background, just over our shoulders. He’s pouring almond milk into his wife’s cup… The same she drank from and then died.”

“Thank you, ma’am. I’ll pass this along.”

“Am I free to go?” I ask.

“You are, but we may be in touch for more questions.”

“What about my boyfriend?”

“I’m not sure. Best if you call a friend to pick you up.”

When I wander down the hall, an open door reveals Adon still in cuffs, talking to another uniformed police officer. His eyes soften as he sees me, and I wait at the threshold of the room.

“Ma’am, you need to move along,” the officer says with a bite to his tone.

Adon gives me a small nod. “It’s okay, Rosy. I’ll see you at home.” But my heart thuds harder. What if they keep him? What if he’s getting arrested?

Rhodes waits for me downstairs and tosses his jacket over my shoulders. We walk in silence to the parking lot, where Adon’s truck sits. “It’ll be okay. I explained everything, and you did, too.”

“They can’t take him, can they? He didn’t do anything!” I think I may lose it.

Rhodes must realize I’m on my last thread of sanity and grabs me into a tight hug. “Come on. I’ll get you home. Essa and Eli are at the house now, too.”

When we arrive, Essa rushes over to me, and I bury my face in her neck.

“Are you okay?” she asks, but it’s more just something to say than an actual question.

“If he comes home to me, I will be.”

“Well, we have a good family lawyer,” Eli says. “If we need him.” I know he’s talking about himself and just getting out of his own murder charges. Despite him trying to make things better, anxiety spreads in my chest.

“I think I need a shower. My skin feels gross everywhere that man touched me,” I say, and they all nod in agreement.

By the time I’m clean and in sweatpants with one of Adon’s T-shirts on, the crew has ordered late-night pizza and has some beers cracked open, with soda for Eli, waiting around the kitchen table for any word.

Eli paces around, then rubs Essa’s shoulders with his large hands. She presses her cheeks to his fingers and tries to calm him. Rhodes keeps checking his phone.

“Shit! He’s out!” Rhodes practically shoves his chair over as he stands, and we all jolt at his outburst.

“I’m coming with you!” I say, scrambling to find my purse and hurrying to the door.

Neither of us speaks on the ride back to the club. Adon stands on the sidewalk as we pull up, and I jump out and climb him like a tree. His lips press into my neck as he heaves a sigh. “I’m never letting you go. I love you.”

Tears heat my eyes as I soak in his words. “I love you so much, Adon. I never thought my heart could be this full, but you healed it and made it whole again.”

He pulls back and presses his forehead to mine. “And you did the same to mine.”

Briefly, our lips graze, but he opens the back door and places me carefully inside, then buckles my seatbelt. “I’m sorry, I have to put you down so I can drive.”

Rhodes grips him into a tight embrace, then jumps in the passenger side before Adon gets behind the wheel and takes off. My hands slip around his shoulders, and he holds one as he steers.

“Sean was behind the shooting. Hired a couple of goons to fire at us in the shop. He admitted it to the police. Apparently, they want to offer him a plea deal. I heard everything while waiting for them to let me go in the next room.”

My eyes squeeze shut with relief. “So you’re not in any trouble?”

“No. My gun is legal, registered to me. Can’t even get me on assault or anything. The only thing is, if the club owner wants to press charges for me carrying inside, but he told Tarin no. That I did a good thing to keep the club clean.”

Rhodes smiles broadly, relaxing back in his seat. “Fuck, yes.”

“And Sean was the one who tried to steal your purse, tried to get your phone hacked to take care of the picture. But he admitted it because he threw his father under the bus, telling them all about his father’s premeditated plans to poison her with almond milk in the coffee shop. Apparently, Professor Harrison was onto your father and Meghan’s affair for a while. They only came after you because of that picture.”

“I didn’t even know I had it!”

Adon pats my hand and says, “I’m just glad you’re okay.”

Rhodes scans both of us with trepidatious eyes. “Do we think the professor will talk the police out of everything? Make them cover it all up?”

A sinking feeling fills my gut.

Neither of us can give him an answer.